Tajikistan Ready To Aid U.S. With Supply Transit

Tajikistan Ready To Aid U.S. With Supply Transit

DUSHANBE - Tajikistan said Feb. 6 it was ready to allow U.S. and NATO supplies for Afghanistan to transit its territory, after neighboring
Kyrgyzstan ordered the closure of a vital American airbase.

The decision by the Kyrgyz government to shut down the Manas airbase has troubled Washington, which had used the facility as a vital route for flying
in supplies for coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said after meeting the U.S. ambassador that his country was ready to allow supplies including construction materials,
medicines, fuel and water to transit its soil by road.

"Tajikistan is ready to offer the United States and NATO countries help with the transit of humanitarian and commercial supplies to Afghanistan," he
said in a statement.

No doubt the Russians are going to be pissed. Its like the U.S. is forcing the Russians to spend more money to bride other countries from allowing
the U.S. a foothold in their country in the region. Tajikistan is practically a perfect place to transfer personnel, equipment, and supplies into
Afghanistan. Would the Russians do something about it? Probably...

Originally posted by deltaboy
No doubt the Russians are going to be pissed. Its like the U.S. is forcing the Russians to spend more money to bride other countries from allowing
the U.S. a foothold in their country in the region. Tajikistan is practically a perfect place to transfer personnel, equipment, and supplies into
Afghanistan. Would the Russians do something about it? Probably...

Read the article carefully and look at the map. It does not talk about cutting Russia out of the picture, but rather incorporation Tajikistan into
the proposed transport route through Russia.

Tajikistan is not in fact offering a new base and air-supply route to the US, but only a land route. The main question is how the supplies will get
to Tajikistan. The answer - through Russia via road and rail network:

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said after meeting the U.S. ambassador that his country was ready to allow supplies including construction materials,
medicines, fuel and water to transit its soil by road.

...

U.S. ambassador Tracey Ann Jacobson said the transit would take place by land and would employ a new bridge over the Panj river funded by
Washington that opened in August 2007 and links the south of Tajikistan with Afghanistan.

...

But Russia also said that it would allow the transit of non-military supplies as soon as the U.S. detailed what items needed to move across its soil
for NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Now Take a look at the map, and it all makes perfect sense. Supplies are trasported from Europe and the Atlantic via Russia by rail, then through
Kazakhstan, then via Tajikistan and into Afghanistan. This will in fact be cheaper and more efficient than transport by air as was done at the Kyrgyz
base.

Thus this agreement by Tajikistan is part of the bigger picture, which includes the offer made by Russia. This was no doubt engineered in advance,
and would hopefully bring cooperation between Russia and US, and the Central Asian countries like Tajikistan.

Could this be some sort of move by the US and Russia to block China out the picture? China would definitely feel encroached upon if central Asian
countries are being scooped up so to speak by US/Russia. It does seem like a game of Stratego.

Originally posted by M157yD4wn
Could this be some sort of move by the US and Russia to block China out the picture? China would definitely feel encroached upon if central Asian
countries are being scooped up so to speak by US/Russia. It does seem like a game of Stratego.

China doesn't really figure much into the Afghanistan conflict and its geopolitical arena. China shares a tiny border with Afghanistan, and all of
that is mountains. Nor has China been overly interested in Afghanistan.

China's interest and territorial ambitions lie further East - at the border with India between Kashmir and Nepal. There were several small conflicts
involving the Chinese there in the past.

So my guess is that this has little to do with China. It is getting crowded in Central Asia as it is.

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